The Czech guerilla restorationist battling to "save Star Wars"

A couple of generations ago, certain young Czechs opposed to the communist
regime’s re-writing of history engaged in the smuggling of books and
other materials, determined to thwart official acts of revisionism and the
suppression of information. Today, Petr Harmáček, a 26-year-old English
teacher from the city of Pilsen, is engaged in a somewhat similar fight,
albeit related to American film history. Going by the Internet nickname
“Harmy” he has devoted hundreds of hours to trying to restore the
original Star Wars trilogy – namely “Star Wars”, released in 1977,
and its two sequels “The Empire Strikes Back”, released in 1980, and
“Return of the Jedi”, released in 1983.

Petr Harmáček, photo: Dominik Jůn
The creative force behind these films, George Lucas, began a seeming
endless process of alterations to this iconic trilogy back in 1997.
Computer
effects were added, and a host of other controversial changes made. All
the
while, it appeared that the original unaltered films – along with their
Academy Award winning special effects – were destined to be erased from
history. Star Wars fans cried foul. “Harmy”, building on
the efforts of
countless other devotees of the original movies, set to work as a kind of
guerrilla restorationist, tracking down film prints, Laserdisc copies –
anything he could get his hands on to try to piece together a fading icon
of film history. His efforts have been praised by fans and have even been
covered by publications such as The Atlantic.

I sat down with Petr Harmáček for an in-depth discussion of these
efforts, and began by asking him about the first time he saw Star
Wars and
the kind of impact the movie had on him:

“I was actually thinking about that recently. I think the first time I
saw Star Wars was when it was first on TV here in the Czech
Republic. That
was around 1993-94 or something like that. I would have been like six
years
old.”

And that would have been a dubbed version.

“Oh, yes. Absolutely. I didn't see Star Wars with the
original
English for a long time after that – until the first DVD came out, I
think. That was only the original film, and then I saw The Empire
Strikes
Back and The Return of the Jedi as the special editions
in 1997. I liked
the special editions back then because I was around ten or something. So
for me it was just a matter of the story that was important. But I had the
films on VHS and as I was growing up with those films, I studied the
special effects in them and I really began to admire them.”

It wasn’t me, I have to admit, but I know a lot of friends at
school.
Those films have a profound impact because they seem to offer young people
a kind of spirituality. I believe Lucas did that deliberately, the kind of
Japanese mythological story, the dark side, good and evil and all that. So
did that impact you, or was it more the technical marvel side?

And that was a new thing for your particular generation, right? Yours
would have been the first Czech generation to see these films?

Yes. Here in the Czech Republic, the Star Wars films were first
shown in
1992 in the cinemas. That was just the first film, in fact. So yes, we
were
definitely the first generation of Czechs to see Star Wars.
Apart from a
select few, who had, like, German VHS editions back in the communist
times.
But no-one really had VHS players back then, so that was very rare.”

So in 1997, George Lucas, the director of the first film, and the
creative
force behind the entire original trilogy, released a revised version of
his
films. It was controversial at the time. But, I suppose, the biggest
controversy is not that he did that but that he seems intent on destroying
the original unaltered films. I don’t think there is a comparable
example
of a director being that determined to do this. So tell me the story
behind
this.

“Exactly. This is what I always say. I am definitely not against
directors making an updated version, or their own personal edits of their
films. For example, I love that there are, like, five different versions
of
Blade Runner (orig. 1982). And you buy Blade Runner
on Blu-Ray and all
these versions are there to see. The same goes for all the
Alien movies.
All the versions are available in the same or comparable quality. George
Lucas is the only one that I know of who is pushing the ‘director’s
cut’ you could call it – it is not officially called the
‘director’s cut’ but that is basically what it is.”

“So he made this film in 1977. It won seven Academy Awards. And then in
1997, they went in and they restored the film. That was the first impulse:
they wanted to restore the film for a 20th anniversary re-release. But
then
they decided to – I am quite convinced that they decided to test the
technology for the upcoming prequel films on these special editions. So
they added some CGI (computer generated imagery) characters into the
movie;
CGI creatures; they replaced many of the old Academy Award-winning special
effects with new CGI effects. These additions actually have very little
historical value compared to the original effects. Because in 1997, there
was nothing new or special in CGI anymore. But those old effects, shot
optically with real models, those were completely groundbreaking at the
time.”

What your are describing could be called an act of aesthetic
vandalism.

“Yes, I would go that far. Definitely. Especially since George Lucas
seems to be hell-bent on destroying the original film.”

I have a quote here that I found from George Lucas: “I am sorry if
you
saw a half-completed film and fell in love with it.” So what Mr. Lucas
is
saying is that his film was actually a work-in-progress. It was only 35
percent complete. And that he is the auter, and thus has the absolute
right
to do what he wants with the film. Whereas your side would say: do what
the
hell you want to do with it for the rest of your life, but just don’t
try
to destroy the original.

“Yes. Exactly. And the problem is that actual film material is unstable.
And it is deteriorating. And unless there is something done soon, it could
be lost forever.”

And apparently Mr. Lucas has also refused to provide a print for the
US
National Film Registry. He has only given them a copy of the 1997 revised
version.

“Yes.”

'Harmy's Star Wars: Despecialized Edition v2.5 - Video Sources Documentary', source: YouTubeSo this is arguably quite extreme revisionism. A critic could almost
say
it was an act of Orwellian petulance. And the changes were not just adding
CGI effects into the films. There were also some even more controversial
changes to do with characterisation. There’s a famous ‘who shot
first?’ issue. And there is also a fresh round of changes after the 1997
changes, for the latest home video version, and now the character of Darth
Vader is suddenly screaming something he didn’t scream before. So could
you explain that to us?

“Yes. First the ‘Han Solo shot first’ issue. This is like the mascot
scene of the entire anti-special edition movement, if you could call it
that. Basically the character of Han Solo [played by Harrison Ford] is a
rogue character. Especially at the beginning of the original film. And he
has the story arc of becoming a more compassionate character at the end.
But at the beginning he is a rogue. He is basically a gangster and a
smuggler. And he is cornered by this bounty hunter, and Han just shoots
him
under the table in cold blood. In the special edition they added the
bounty
hunter Greedo shooting first, and only then does Han shoot him. Not only
does this change the character of Han, and it sort of cheapens the story
arc of him getting to be a better character by the end of the film, it is
also technically pretty badly done. Because they just added in this head
jerk so that Han Solo avoids the first shot. And this is [laughs]
completely unrealistic. So it looks terrible, but mainly it changes the
character.”

And in the second example. The new Blu-Ray releases are not even a
release
of the 1997 version, or even subsequent changes made for a 2004 DVD
release. These changes appear to be getting more and more infuriating,
right?

“Yes, it is very funny. When the 1997 special edition came out, George
Lucas said: ‘This is my original vision. This is what I wanted.’ Then
suddenly in 2004, a DVD came out with even more changes. So where is the
‘original vision’ from 1997? And then in 2011, the Blu-Ray came out
with even more changes. So this is like the fourth or fifth version
already. The releases are always of better [technical – meaning higher
resolution] quality than before, which means the previously available
version then does not exist in comparable quality, even the 2004 version.
And, yes, the changes get worse and worse [laughs] all the time!

In Return of the Jedi, the character of Darth Vader now
screams:
“Nooo!”. Can you explain that for us?

“Yes, so in the last prequel film [Revenge of the Sith,
2005], at the
end, when Darth Vader is first introduced, when Anakin turns into Darth
Vader, he learns from the Emperor that his wife is dead and he screams
‘Nooooo!’. And this moment was ridiculed by fans from the beginning.
And it almost seems that George Lucas added the ‘Noooo!’ to the
Return
of the Jedi to spite the fans who criticised that moment in
Revenge of the
Sith.”

In 2010, the subject of Star Wars’ fans increasingly
love-hate
relationship with their idol, the creative force behind these movies, was
the subject of a documentary feature film entitled “The People
Versus
George Lucas”. Featured in the movie is a clip of George Lucas
speaking
in 2004, addressing the potential ironies of the Star Wars
story as it
relates to his own experiences as an independent film-maker:

“I was sort of fighting the corporate system, which I didn’t like. And
I am not happy with the fact that corporations have taken over the film
industry. But now I have found myself being the head of a corporation. So
there is a certain irony there – that I have become the very thing that
I
was trying to avoid. That is Darth Vader. He becomes the very thing that
he
is trying to protect himself against.”

I asked Petr Harmáček for his take on this documentary film:

“It is definitely about the fact that people are angry about the special
editions. But then there are also some people who are angry about the
prequels. I personally dislike the prequels, but I am not at all angry
about them. Because for me, I just don’t watch them. No problem. I
don’t like a movie and so I don’t watch it. But the problem here is
that I like the original films. But with these special editions, they keep
shoving in stuff from the prequels.”

So is there an irony there that the story of Star Wars,
which is one of a
choice between good and evil, and the power of the dark side, and Darth
Vader turning bad? Is that not really, ironically, a story about George
Lucas himself?

“In a way it is. And I am still hoping for a Return of the
Jedi and for
him to redeem himself and to finally condone releasing the original
versions. Although he has now sold all the rights to these films to
Disney.
So he basically has no say in it anymore.”

“I am not sure. Nobody really knows what is in those papers that they
signed.”

Let’s turn to your specific restoration efforts. Basically,
frustrated
by the fact that there has been no official release forthcoming from
Lucasfilm or Fox, you have decided to grab as many elements as you can and
to try and assemble through digital means a high definition version of the
original Star Wars films. How did you go about doing
that?

“I wasn’t the first person to have this idea. But I was the first
person to do it in high definition. There were people who took the special
edition DVDs and then took some Laserdisc transfers and tried to blend
these together.”

Let’s explain that. The only way that people can now get hold of
the
original films is either VHS releases, film print copies or there was also
a very low quality DVD release of the originals, viewed by the fans as
somewhat contemptuous.

“This is important. In 2004, a DVD came out – a ‘super special
edition’, with even more changes. And the fans started asking for the
original version on DVD. Because this was not forthcoming, the fans were
making their own transfers from a Laserdisc release. I don’t know if the
listeners are familiar with this format. Nobody has ever heard of it here
in the Czech Republic. And it was pretty obscure in other countries as
well.”

It was a kind of giant DVD that looked like an LP gramophone
record.

'Harmy's Star Wars: Despecialized Edition v2.5 - Video Sources Documentary', source: YouTube
“Yes, a giant optical disc. But it was actually analogue video. Like VHS
but higher quality, and slightly higher resolution. So it was nearing DVD,
but still quite far from it. So people started doing their own transfers
of
these Laserdiscs, and they made DVDs from them. And they became quite
efficient at it. They made some quite nice-looking discs, considering what
else was available. But definitely not to be considered a worthwhile
release in terms of preservation purposes. And then Lucasfilm announced
that there would be a DVD featuring the original version of the film on
it.
But when they released it, it was discovered to just be one of those
Laserdisc transfers put on DVD. They used the original Laserdisc masters,
so it was slightly better than what fans were able to do with their
Laserdiscs, but only a little bit. And I am quite convinced that they just
wanted to cash-in on the popularity of these Laserdisc transfers. Because
they already had those masters in storage; there was no real effort
involved for them. And at the same time they could say: look this is the
original version, look how ugly it looks, because it wasn’t restored
obviously! And look how great the special edition looks in comparison. But
this is a completely false comparison. But they did that. They actually
had...”

When you say “they” you mean Lucasfilm, right?

“Yes. At the behest of George Lucas himself, I’m sure. But they
actually had a page on StarWars.com where they had comparison pictures of
the special edition versus the original and they were taken from those
DVDs.”

I found a rather shocking statement, which surely cannot be true. But
it
is one that Lucasfilm issued: “The negatives of the film were
permanently
altered by the creation of the special editions and existing prints are in
poor condition.” The first part has to be nonsense, because nobody
messes
with a negative in that way...

'Harmy's Star Wars: Despecialized Edition v2.5 - Video Sources Documentary', source: YouTube
“I just don’t know what to believe anymore in this. Because, yes,
nobody does that. But it would seem that they actually did it. Because
they
said that the Blu-Ray transfers are made from the negative, and they
already include all the special edition scenes, which you can clearly see
are actually scanned from film. They have some film blemishes here and
there, even in the CGI scenes. So they were scanned from the same film as
the rest of it. And if it is actually true that this transfer was done
from
the original negatives, then they must have actually re-cut the original
negative, which is crazy.”

And then they could have even disposed of some of the film of the old
original effects?

“It’s possible.”

Threw them in the bin?

“It is quite possible. Although the Lucasfilm archives are huge and they
archive everything, so it is quite probable that even if they re-cut the
original negative, they could possibly have kept the pieces they cut out
and put them in storage somewhere.”

So you are standing on the shoulders of countless fans across the
world
whose mission has been to just get these original films before audiences
on
home video. And you yourself have presumably spent many hours in front of
a
computer...

“Yes, hundreds!”

Putting together all sorts of source materials.

“So the way I work is that I take the HD special edition footage, and I
replace not only the whole scenes, because the materials available of the
original are such poor quality that you can’t just put them inside an HD
video and not make it look completely jarring.”

And of course your edition is called the De-Specialized edition. A
very
pointed name.

“Yes. And in the special edition, they added digital dinosaurs that they
called Rontos, into the original film. And because they were called
Rontos,
and the original technique is called Rotoscoping, then I jokingly called
in
Rontoscoping.”

Petr Harmáček has put together a video published on YouTube detailing
his extraordinarily painstaking and laborious “de-specialising”
restoration efforts, conducted via assistance from a like-minded global
network of Star Wars devotees. Here is a clip:

“A scan of the first part of the Mos Eisley scene from an actual low
fade LPP 35mm print done on a home-built scanner by a group of dedicated
fans called ‘Team Negative One’. The print, while in a fairly good
condition still had too much grain and dirt to fit alongside the Blu-Ray
footage, which was scanned from the original negative. So first an
automated clean-up was performed in AviSynth by another
OriginalTrilogy.com
member who calls himself ‘Laserschwert’. Then, the footage was further
enhanced and colour-corrected. Especially where the entirety of the frame
had to be replaced. But also, where only elements from the scan were used
to cover up the special edition changes.”

Astonishingly, Harmáček, and his fellow “Original Trilogy”
enthusiasts also claim that the existing high definition home video
releases of the altered special editions have major technical flaws,
including poor colour correction.

“Absolutely, the entire technical execution of these official releases
is very bad.”

How is that possible?

“I don’t know.”

But it is their product. They make money from this.

'Harmy's Star Wars: Despecialized Edition v2.5 - Video Sources Documentary', source: YouTube
“There are a lot of people who are behind George Lucas on this, even
fans. And they would say that ‘maybe this is what the film was supposed
to look like.’ But when you know anything about colour grading, you can
clearly see that there are technical errors there. It is not about
specific
colour grading [choices]. But rather technical errors. Plus, there is
clear
proof that this is not what the film looked like originally because there
are people who possess non-faded original 35mm prints of the film.”

Tell me about that. Because for your restoration effort, you
haven’t
just upgraded DVD material from this poor quality release that you
mentioned. You have also been able to source film prints as well. So where
did you get them from and how did you go about utilising them?

“Actually, for the first [attempted] version, I only had the DVDs. But
then some people – because owning a 35mm film print is sort of a gray
area legally.”

Can you explain that? Because it is the property of the studio?

“I guess so. It depends on different legislation in different countries.
But I think that in America you can’t legally own a 35mm print of a
film.
Which is why all the collectors are [reluctant to admit they own a
copy]...but this law is kind of nonsensical because it happened many times
that they wanted to restore some film and the materials they had in the
vault were so deteriorated that they couldn’t restore it. And some
collector saved the day because they had a perfectly stored print of that
film. And this could very well end up being the case with Star
Wars as
well. If they actually destroyed some of the original negatives.”

I have also read that George Lucas is quite content to have that
happen.
To have all these copies destroyed. Therefore, all these collectors that
have these copies are not even officially volunteering that they have them
for fear that they could be seized. So there is now a kind of secret
society of people who hold on to them.

'Harmy's Star Wars: Despecialized Edition v2.5 - Video Sources Documentary', source: YouTube
“Exactly. But as technology evolves and it gets cheaper, some people
were actually able to buy scanners or build them. The group that I worked
with, they actually built their own HD film scanner from a camera and an
old film projector. And they obtained – somehow, I don’t even know
exactly how – some non-faded 35mm prints. And as far as I know, the
prints were not complete. They were just bits. So that is what I was able
to get hold of. But this helped a lot because those were some of the most
difficult scenes in terms of removing the changes using other means. But
now I actually had HD footage, which I still had to sort of combine with
the Blu-Ray to make it fit inside. But the result is basically a perfect
HD
restoration of the scene. So I am very happy about that.”

One obvious question that I have to ask: Obviously, people will know
that
this isn’t your property.

“Yes...”

And you are releasing it, and basically what you are doing is an act
of
copyright piracy. Or is there some kind of restoration clause in copyright
law applicable here?

“I expected this question, of course. The thing is that the whole fan
restoration and fan edit community has been doing this for quite a
while.”

Because there is a website called originaltrilogy.com, right?

“Yes. And there are countless other efforts to preserve Star
Wars in its
original form. I realise that this is definitely a legally gray area. But
the point of copyright is to protect the financial interests of the
copyright owner. And I am completely convinced that 99 percent of people
who download my restorations already own the official [special edition]
versions anyway. So the studio isn’t losing any money over this at all.
Or if it is, then peanuts.”

And there hasn’t been any official reaction to what you’ve been
doing?

“No. Not at all. I am an ESL teacher. English as a Second Language. So I
teach English at a language school. Which is what I studied. I studied
English teaching at the pedagogical faculty in Pilsen. And, yes, I have no
professional background in film editing. I started playing with Photoshop
in high school. And then I sort of progressed towards moving images. And
it
is just a hobby.”

And would you like to work in the industry?

“Yeah! I guess if I was offered a job I definitely wouldn’t refuse it.
I’d love to actually. It is kind of difficult here in the Czech
Republic.
Especially in Pilsen. There aren’t many companies that do this kind of
thing.”

Maybe one day you will do what George Lucas did and make your own
film.

“Maybe.”

And then not change it!

“Or if I were to change it, which as I said is completely fine, but keep
the original version available. It is like a lot of writers actually
change
their books, like Tolkien changed The Hobbit after he wrote the
Lord of the
Rings. But you can still read the original version as it was. So
that is
not a problem from my point of view. The problem is the suppression of the
original version.”